Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance, An by Foster John (2005-06-17) Paperback

[An Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance: and a discourse on the communication of Christianity to the people of Hindoostan ... Second edition.]

An essay on the evils of popular ignorance : and a discourse on the communication of christianity to

An Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance: and a discourse on the communication of Christianity to the people of Hindoostan ... Second edition.

An Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance - Scholar's Choice Edition

and such whimsical prescriptions for making a salutary compound of alittle knowledge and much ignorance,--that it might seem to be doubtful,after all, whether the human nature, in the mass of mankind at least, beof any such consistence, or for any such purpose, as is affirmed in ourcommon-places on the subject. It is uniformly assumed in the language ofdivines, and of the philosophers in most repute, that the worth, thedignity, the importance of man, are in his rational, immortal nature; andthat therefore the best condition of _that_ is his true felicity andglory, and the object chiefly to be aimed at in all that is done by him,and for him, on earth. But whether this should be regarded as anythingmore than the elated faith of ascetics, a fine dogma of academics, or atheme for show in the pomp of moral rhetoric? For we often see, and it isvery striking to see, how principles which are suffered to pass forinfallible truth while content to stay within the province of speculation,and to be pronounced as mere doctrine, may be disowned and repelled whenthey come demanding to have their appropriate place and influence in thepractical sphere. Even many pretended advocates of Christianity, who innaming certain principles would seem to make them of the very essence ofthe moral part of that religion, and, in discoursing merely as_religionists_, will insist on their vital importance, will yet shuffleand equivocate about these principles, and in effect set them aside, whenthey are attempted to be applied to some of their most legitimate uses.If, for example, these religionists are among the servile adherents ofcorrupted institutions and iniquity invested with power, they will easilyfind accommodating interpretations, or pleas of exemption from the directauthority, of some of the most sacred maxims of their professed religion.Serve the true God when we happen to be in the right place; but at allevents we must attend our master to pay homage in the temple of Eimmon,or, should he please to require it, that of Moloch,--with this signaldifference from the ancient instance of peccant servility, that whereas inthat case pardon for it was implored, in the present case a merit is madeof the sycophancy and the idolatry. Unless the principles of Christianitywill acknowledge the supremacy of _something else_ than Christianity, inthe mode of their application to estimate the importance of the popularmind, they may take their repose in bodies of divinity, sermons,catechisms, systems of ethics, or wherever they can find a place.

But _is_ it really admitted, as a great principle for practicalapplication, that the mind, the intelligent, imperishable existence, isthe supremely valuable thing in man? It is then admitted, inevitably, thatthe discipline, the correction, the improvement, the maturation of thisspiritual being to the highest attainable degree, is the great object tobe desired by men, for themselves and one another. That is to say, thatknowledge, cultivation, salutary exercise, wisdom, all that can conduce tothe perfection of the mind, form the state in which it is due to man'snature that he should be endeavored to be placed. But then, this is due tohis nature by an absolutely _general_ law. He cannot be so circumstancedin the order of society that this shall _not_ be due to it. No situationin which the arrangements of the world, or say of Providence, may placehim, can constitute him a specific kind of creature, to which is no longerfit and necessary that which is necessary to the well-being of manconsidered generally, as a spiritual, immortal nature. The essential lawof this nature cannot be abrogated by men's being placed in humble andnarrow circumstances, in which a very large portion of their time andexertions are required for mere subsistence. This accident of a confinedsituation is no more a reason why their minds should not require the bestattainable cultivation, than would be the circumstance that the body inwhich a man's mind is lodged happens to be of smaller dimensions thanthose of other men.

That under the disadvantages of this humble situation they _cannot_acquire all the mental improvement, desirable for the perfection of theirintelligent nature, that the situation renders it impracticable, is quiteanother matter. So far as this inhibition is real and absolute, that is,so far as it must remain after the best exertion of human wisdom and meansin their favor, it must be submitted to as one of the infelicities oftheir allotment by Providence. What we are insisting on is, that since bythe law of their nature there is to them the same general necessity as toany other human beings, of that which is essential to the well-being ofthe mind, they should be advanced in this improvement _as far as theycan_; that is, as far as a wise and benevolent disposition of thecommunity can make it practicable for them to be advanced.

It is an odious hypocrisy to talk of the narrow limits to this advancementas an ordination of Providence, when a well-ordered constitution andmanagement of the community might enlarge those limits. At least it is soin the _justifiers_ of that social system: those who deplore and condemnit _may_ properly speak of the appointment of Providence, but in anothersense; as they would speak of the dispensations of Providence inconsolation to a man iniquitously imprisoned or impoverished.

Let the people then be advanced in the improvement of their rationalnature as far as they can. A greater degree of this progress will be morefor their welfare than a less. This might be shown in forms ofillustration easily conceived, and as easily vindicated from theimputation of extravagance, by instances which every observer may have metwith in real life. A poor man, cultivated in a small degree, has acquireda few just ideas of an important subject, which lies out of the scope ofhis daily employments for subsistence. Be that subject what it may, ifthose ideas are of any use to him, by what principle would one idea more,or two, or twenty, be of _no_ use to him? Of no use!--when all thethinking world knows, that every additional clear idea of a subject isvaluable by a ratio of progress greater than that of the mere numericalincrease, and that by a large addition of ideas a man triples the value ofthose with which he began. He has read a small meagre tract on thesubject, or perhaps only an article in a magazine, or an essay in theliterary column of a provincial newspaper. Where would be the harm, onsupposition he can fairly afford the time, in consequence of husbanding itfor this very purpose, of his reading a well-written concise book, whichwould give him a clear, comprehensive view of the subject?

But perhaps another branch of the tree of knowledge bends its fruittemptingly to his hand. And if he should indulge, and gain a tolerablyclear notion of one more interesting subject, (still punctually regardfulof the duties of his ordinary vocation,) where, we say again, is the harm?Converse with him; observe his conduct; compare him with the wretchedclown in a neighboring dwelling; and say that he is the worse for havingthus much of the provision for a mental subsistence. But if thus much hascontributed greatly to his advantage, why should he be interdicted stillfurther attainments? Are you alarmed for him, if he will needs go thelength of acquiring some knowledge of geography, the solar system, and thehistory of his own country and of the ancient world? [Footnote: Thesedenominations of knowledge, so strange as they will to some person?appear, in such a connection, we have ventured to write from, observingthat they stand in the schemes of elementary instruction in the Missionaryschools for the children of the natives of Bengal. But of course we are toacknowledge, that the vigorous, high-toned spirits of those Asiaticidolaters are adapted to receive a much superior style of cultivation toany of which the feeble progeny of England can be supposed to be capable.]Let him proceed; supply him gratuitously with some of the best books onthese subjects; and if you shall converse with him again, after anotheryear or two of his progress, and compare him once more with the ignorant,stunted, cankered beings in his vicinity, you will see whether there beanything essentially at variance between his narrow circumstances in lifeand his mental enlargement.

You are willing, perhaps, that he _should_ know a few facts of ancienttimes, and can, though with hesitation, trust him with some such slightstories as Goldsmith's Histories of Greece and Rome. But if he should thenby some means find his way into such a work as that of Rollin, (of moraland instructive tendency, however defective otherwise,) or betray that hecovets an acquaintance with those of Gillies, or even Thirlwall,--it isall over with him for being a useful member of society in his humblesituation. You would consent (may we suppose?) to his reading a slenderabridgment of voyages and travels; but what _is_ to become of him ifnothing less will content him than the whole-length story of Captain Cook?He will direct, it is to be hoped, some of his best attention to thesupreme subject of religion. And you would quite approve of his perusingsome useful tracts, some manuals of piety, some commentary on a catechism,some volume of serious, plain discourses; but he is absolutely undone ifhis ambition should rise at length to Barrow, or Howe, or Jeremy Taylor.[Footnote: It should be unnecessary to observe, that the object in citing_any_ names in this paragraph was, to give a somewhat definite cast to thedescription of the supposed progress of the plebeian self-instructor. Theprincipal of them are mentioned simply as being of such note in theirdepartments, that he would be likely to hear of them among the first ofthe authors to be sought, if he were aspiring to something beyond hispreviously humble and abridged reading. The reader may substitute forthese names any others, of the superior order, that he may think moreproper to stand in their place. It would therefore be animadversion orridicule misspent, to make the charge of extravagance on this imaginedcourse of a plain man's reading, with a specific reference to the authorshere named, as if it had been meant that precisely these, by a peculiarselection, were to be the authors he may be supposed to peruse, and inperusing, to waste his time and destroy his sense of duty.] He is by allmeans, you say, to be kept out of all such pernicious company, in which itis impossible he can learn any lesson but one,--an aversion to goodmorals, just laws, virtuous kings, a polished and benevolent gentry, andlearned and pious teachers. Well; _let_ him be kept as far as possiblefrom the mischief of all such books and knowledge; let him hardly knowthat there _was_ an ancient world, or that there _are_ on the globe suchregions and wonders as travellers have described; or that a reason andeloquence above the pitch of some plain homily ever illustrated andenforced religion. _Let_ him keep clear of all such evil communications;and then, (since we were expressly making it a condition, that he canfairly spare the time for such reading from his common employment,) andthen,--he will have just so much the more time for needless sleep, fordiscussing the trifles and characters of the neighborhood, or, (supposinghim still of a religious habit,) for tiring his friends and family withthe well-meant but very unattractive iteration of a few serious phrasesand remarks, of which they will have long since learnt to anticipate thelast word from hearing the first. Advantages like these he certainly mayenjoy in consequence of his preclusion from the higher and wider field ofideas. But however valuable these may be in themselves, they will notensure his being better qualified for the common business and proprietiesof his station, than another man in the same sphere of life whose mind hasacquired that larger reach which we are describing. It is no more thanwhat we have repeatedly seen exemplified, when we represent thistransgressor into the prohibited field as probably acquitting himself withexemplary regularity and industry in his allotted labors, and even in thisvery capacity preferred by the men of business to the illiterate tools inhis neighborhood; nay, most likely preferred, in the more technical senseof the word, to the honorable, but often sufficiently vexatious office ofdirecting and superintending the operations of those tools.

And where, now, is the evil he is incurring or causing, during thisprogress of violating, step after step, the circumscription by which thearistocratic compasses were again and again, with small reluctantextensions to successive greater distances, defining the scope of theknowledge proper for a man of his condition? It is a bad thing, is it,that he has a multiplicity of ideas to relieve the tedium incident to thesameness of his course of life; that, with many things which had else beenbut mere insignificant facts, or plain dry notions and principles, he hasa variety of interesting associations; like woodbines and roses wreathinground the otherwise bare, ungraceful forms of erect stones or witheredtrees; that the world is an interpreted and intelligible volume before hiseyes; that he has a power of applying himself to _think_ of what itbecomes at any time necessary for him to understand? Is it a judgment uponhim for his temerity, in "seeking and intermeddling with wisdom" withwhich he had no business, that he has so much to impart to his children asthey are growing up, and that if some of them are already come tomaturity, they know not where to find a man to respect more than theirfather? Or if he takes a part in the converse and devotional exercises ofreligious society, is no one there the better for the clearness and theplenitude of his thoughts and the propriety of his expression?--But therewould be no end of the preposterous suppositions fairly attachable to thenotion, that the mental improvement of the common people has some properlimit of arbitrary prescription, on the ground simply of their _being_ thecommon people, and quite distinct from the restriction which theircircumstances may invincibly impose on their ability.

Taken in this latter view, we acknowledge that their condition would be asubject for most melancholy contemplation,--if we did not hope for bettertimes. The benevolent reflector, when sometimes led to survey in thoughtthe endless myriads of beings with minds within the circuit of a countrylike this, will have a momentary vision of them as they would be if allimproved to the highest mental condition to which it is _naturallypossible_ for them to be exalted a magnificent spectacle; but it instantlyfades and vanishes. And the sense is so powerfully upon him of theunchangeable economy of the world, which, even if the fairest visions ofthe millennium itself were realized, would still render such a thing_actually_ impossible, that he hardly regrets the bright scene was but abeautiful _mirage_, and melts away. His imagination then descends to viewthis immense tribe of rational beings in another, and comparativelymoderate state of the cultivation of their faculties, a state notone-third part so lofty as that in which he had beheld all the individualsimproved to the utmost of their natural capacity; and he thinks, that thecondition of man's abode on earth _might_ admit of their being raised to_this_ elevation. But he soon sees that, till a mighty change shall comeon the management of the affairs of nations, this too is impossible; andwith regret he sees even this inferior ideal spectacle pass away, to reston an age in distant prospect. At last he takes his imaginary stand onwhat he feels to be a very low level of the supposed improvement of thegeneral popular mind; and he says, Thus much, at the least, should be apossibility allowed by the circumstances of the people under _any_tolerable disposition of national interests;--and then he turns to lookdown on an actual condition in which care, and toil, and distress, renderit impossible for a great proportion of the people to reach, or evenapproach, this his last and lowest conception of what the state of theirminds ought to be.

In spite of all the optimists, it _is_ a grievous reflection, after therace has had on earth so many thousands of years for attaining its mostadvantageous condition there, that all the experience, the philosophy, thescience, the art, the power acquired by mind over matter,--that all thecontributions of all departed and all present spirits and bodies, yes, andall religion too, should have come but to this;--to this, that in what isself-adulated as the most favored and improved nation of all terrestrialspace and time, a vast proportion of the people are found in a conditionwhich confines them, with all the rigor of necessity, to a mere childhoodof intelligent existence, without its innocence.

But at the very same time, and while the compassion rises, at such a view,there comes in on the other hand the reflection, that even in the actualstate of things, there are a considerable number of the people who _might_acquire a valuable share of improvement which they do not. Great numbersof them, grown up, waste by choice, and multitudes of children wastethrough utter neglect, a large quantity of precious time which theirnarrow circumstances still leave free from the iron dominion of necessity.And they will waste it, it is certain that they will, till education shallhave become general, and much more vigorous in discipline. If through amiracle there were to come down on this country, with a sudden, delightfulaffluence of temporal melioration, resembling the vernal transformationfrom the dreariness of winter, a universal prosperity, so that all shouldbe placed in comparative ease and plenty, it would require another miracleto prevent this benignity of heaven from turning to a dreadful mischief.What would the great tribe of the uneducated people do with the half oftheir time, which we will suppose that such a state would give to theirvoluntary disposal? Every one can answer infallibly, that the far greaternumber of them would consume it in idleness, vanity or every sort ofintemperance. Educate them, then, bring them under a grand process ofintellectual and moral reformation;--or, in all circumstances and events,calamitous or prosperous, they are still a race made in vain!

In taking leave of the subject, we wish to express, in strong terms, theapplause and felicitations due to those excellent individuals, found hereand there, who In very humble circumstances, and perhaps with very littleadvantage of education in their youth, have been excited to a strenuous,continued exertion for the improvement of their minds; and thus have made(the unfavorable situation considered,) admirable attainments, which areverifying to them that "knowledge is power," over rich resources for theirown enjoyment, and are in many instances passing with inestimable worthinto the instruction of their families, and a variety of usefulness withintheir sphere. They have nobly struggled with their threatened destiny, andhave overcome it. When they think, with regret, how confined, after all,is their portion of knowledge, as compared with the possessions of thosewho have had from their infancy all facilities and the amplest time forits acquirement, let them be consoled by reflecting, that the value ofmental progress is not to be measured solely by the quantity of knowledgepossessed, but partly, and indeed still more, in the corrective,invigorating effect produced on the mental powers by the resoluteexertions made in attaining it. And therefore, since, under their greatdisadvantages, it has required a much greater degree of this resoluteexertion in them to force their way victoriously out of ignorance, than ithas required in those who have had everything in their favor to make along, free career over the field of knowledge, they may be assured theypossess one greater benefit in _proportion_ to the measure of theiracquirements. This persistence of a determined will to do what has been sodifficult to be done, has infused a peculiar energy into the exercise oftheir powers; a valuable compensation, in part, for their more limitedshare of the advantage that one part of knowledge becomes more valuable initself by the accession of many others. Let them persevere in this worthyself-discipline, appropriate to the introductory period of an endlessmental life. Let them go on to complete the proof how much a mind incitedto a high purpose may triumph over a depression of its externalcondition;--but solemnly taking care, that all their improvements may tendto such a result, that at length the rigor of their lot and theconfinement of mortality itself bursting at once from around them, maygive them to those intellectual revelations, that everlasting sunlight ofthe soul, in which the truly wise will expand all their faculties in ahappier economy.